What is up with Kitten's Whiskers?

Have you every noticed how absurd Kitten's whiskers are?



















No? Let me demonstrate:

Here, we have a couple of great specimens. At the top, we have a whisker growing vertically out of the top of Kitten's head, followed by a long and arching whisker, growing almost horizontally out of the top of Kitten's head. At the bottom, we have a grouping of whiskers that have become displaced, seemingly due to their sheer volume.

Aside from the fact that I have absolutely zero knowledge as to what is happening in this picture, it proves to be a fine example of the scope of Kitten's whiskerage.

In this one, you are able to view both the length and arch of Kitten's eyebrow whiskers.

Here, Kitten's whiskers have literally taken over the focus of the picture. 

I saved this one for last, because I think it catches the best of all of Kitten's whisker abnormalities. 

(Also, he can't quite close his mouth.)

Do you see what I mean?

Kitten's "New" Home

Okay, so it isn't exactly a new home. I would say that it is more of a "garbage home", since I found it in the garbage.

But let me start from the beginning...

As I am sure you are aware, Kitten absolutely adores loves reveres bags and boxes (see also: here and here).  Here is the most recent exemplification of his infatuation:

But most bags and boxes are so fickle. Bags fall apart or sag so that Kitten cannot get in and boxes are usually temporary fixtures within our apartment, destined to end up in the recycling bin. 

So one day, when I was throwing some garbage down the garbage chute and I saw a perfect Kitten sized box just lying there (people in our building prefer to leave their garbage just outside of the chute as opposed to actually throwing it out), I knew what I had to do. 

I took that garbage box (which by the way was perfectly clean --  it looked like the type of box someone might use to carry their groceries home in) and made it into a Kitten home. At the time, I probably had some intention of painting it to make it look a little less like garbage, but clearly, that did not happen.

Regardless of its appearance, Kitten loves his garbage home:

 Though being Kitten, sometimes he just can't quite figure it out.

Potty Training: The Final Chapter

I know I have been promising this for a while, but I am finally going to tell the final chapter of the Potty Training Saga. 

For those of you who are new to the Kitten Blog, or simply have a poor memory, you can get caught up on the Potty Training Saga: here, then here, then here and finally the last paragraph from here.

The short story is, we failed. But let me start from the beginning:

After an initial rough start...

...things seemed to be going pretty well.

Kitten was using the litter tray on the toilet. As you can probably tell from his facial expressions, he didn't really enjoy it; but since it was the only option, he put up with it.

Unfortunately, as we took out more and more rings, Kitten still clung to using the litter. He would perch right on the ring of litter when we was supposed to be sitting on the edge of the toilet seat.

Then one day, for no apparent reason, Kitten decided that he would only pee in the litter. I have no idea what happened, but out of the blue, Kitten started doing "number two" in anything porcelain, except the toilet. As soon as Boyfriend or I heard scratching in the tub, we knew what Kitten was up to.

Boyfriend looked into this online and found out that this is a pretty common problem with cats being toilet trained. For some reason, most cats are okay using the toilet, except for "number twos." 

We weren't ready to give up, so we decided that we would keep toilet training, but provide Kitten with litter for "number twos." We filled a small tray with litter, put a lid on it, and kept it under the sink. Kitten was pretty good at letting up know when he had to go, and we would pull it out for him to use.

Things seemed to be back on (the altered) track. But then, Kitten got sneaky.

He started pretending to need to go "number two" and would then proceed to pee in the litter box. Next thing we knew, he was refusing to use the toilet at all. And not only was he refusing to use the toilet, he devolved from using porcelain to using the bath mat, which he would kindly flip over when he was done, leaving a pleasant surprise when Boyfriend or I went to shower. 

The whole situation fell apart and Boyfriend and I (once again) conceded defeat.

We really did not want to go back to using litter though since Kitten's abnormally furry paws track litter everywhere, sometimes making it necessary to sweep three to four times a day.

Abnormally furry paw.

I did some research, and have come up with some form of a solution: Pellet Litter.

There are apparently many types of pellet litter. The one I bought is milled grain. Since the pellets are larger, they shouldn't get caught in Kitten's fur the way little flecks of regular litter do. 

At first Kitten was not too impressed. I tried to put him in the pellet litter and he absolutely freaked out. He didn't seem to like the feel of the pellets, so I ended up putting a pretty thick layer of regular litter over the pellets and he now seems okay with it. I think next time I can get rid of the litter completely.

Since switching to pellet litter, I have only seen a few pellets on the floor. A few pellets a day is pretty exciting for me; a massive improvement from handfuls of litter.

Ultimately, I am still sad that the potty training failed, but I am happy to have found a better alternative to regular litter.

And that my friends, is the end of the Potty Training Saga.

In Loving Memory...

A sad day is upon us.

You might remember that a while back Kitten ran into the door of our TV stand, breaking it right off.

In an act of sheer and unintentional strength, Boyfriend literally ripped the second door off. I don't mean that he pulled it off of the hinges, I mean he literally splintered the wood and ripped the door apart. It was not an act of rage; he was just trying to open it. 

He has been working out. It was probably inevitable. 

In loving memory of Right Door, I have put together this montage. For maximum enjoyment, please turn up the volume on your computer.

The Cat in the Suitcase

Okay, so today, I have a very special Kitten Blog for you... and it isn't about Kitten at all.

Today is a guest post by another fantastic blogger/friend/ex-coworker/Kitten blog lover and also the person who convinced me that I should start blogging about Kitten in the first place (Thanks again)!

Enjoy!

Hello kitty lovers! My name is Lindsey, and I blog over at Happy or Hungry where I talk about my adventures in eating (and just plain adventures in life), as I strive to live healthfully as well as happily.

I am honoured that Catherine asked me to guest post for her, because I am a huge fan of Kitten and I love keeping up with his antics. I also have the ultimate pleasure of knowing Catherine in real life, as we used to work at Dairy Queen together back in the day.
This is a fairly recent picture of us on a lunch date though.

 I am no stranger to kitties, as I have two of my own, Winnie and Dexter. Dexter is crazy (though not quite as crazy as Kitten), and Winnie is the sweetest, most cuddly kitty you will ever meet, so probably the polar opposite of Kitten.


Dexter is on the left, Winnie on the right.

But I am not here today to talk about my own kitty cats. Noooope, I am here to talk about my friend's cat who I accidentally locked in a suitcase for three days.

Don't judge. It sounds worse than it is.

Last year I was visiting my friend Lisa in Calgary, and I arrived late on a Thursday night. We had plans to stay in Revelstoke, BC for the weekend, so the next morning (Friday), we packed up the car and got ready to hit the road in the late morning. Before we headed out to the car, we said goodbye to her cat Charlie.
























Right before we started driving, I realized I had forgotten something, so I had to run back inside.

I noticed that my big suitcase (which I was leaving behind) was closed but not zipped up. Thinking I didn't want Charlie to get in the suitcase and get his kitty hair on all my clothes (the joke ended up being on me), I quickly zipped up the suitcase. Because we had already said goodbye to Charlie, I just ran back outside without thinking about him. I didn't look in the suitcase before I zipped it up, and I definitely did not think that he may have already been in the suitcase.

We proceeded to have some amazing winter adventures in Revelstoke, and I'm sorry to say I did not think about Charlie once.

We arrived back at Lisa's house on Sunday evening, two and a half days later. We unpacked the car, brought all our stuff inside, and started looking for Charlie. We couldn't find him anywhere! We called his name, and eventually we heard a muffled meowing... It sounded like it was coming from my suitcase... 

We unzipped it, and Charlie immediately jumped out. He had been in the suitcase the entire time. Nearly three days in a suitcase. My entire vacation wardrobe was covered in orange and white hair, but surprisingly, he did not do any sort of business in there. Nothing, he didn't even pee! He held everything for three days.

And as soon as he jumped out of the suitcase, he jumped right back into the suitcase! Like he actually liked it! I may have actually done him a favour locking him in there.

 If he was traumatized, he didn't show it. He seemed A-okay.

 
That picture was taken almost immediately afterwards. Back to normal (though he is kind of crazy).

Poor Charlie though. felt so badly. But once we realized he was fine we absolutely died laughing for a good half an hour. I still cannot think about it without laughing.

Annnnd that is my story of the cat in the suitcase.

Don't try this at home. Though, I wonder how Kitten would react to being locked in a suitcase for three days...

Happy or Hungry
happyorhungry.com


If you liked the story about Charlie in the suitcase, you should definitely pop over and check out Lindsey's blog. She has some pretty fantastic stories to tell, like the time she almost got arrested.

Next time on the Kitten Blog, more Kitten!